


Fluorescent Flora

by burymeonpluto



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Dimension Travel, Laboratories, M/M, Science like Magic, Submachine - Freeform, Teleportation, Vanitas is a cat, because I said so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:33:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26656687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burymeonpluto/pseuds/burymeonpluto
Summary: There's always something left to research. Another boundary to break.But the more Riku breaks, the more everything unravels. The world is more than just a drawing on a piece of paper. How many times has Sora told him that?
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	Fluorescent Flora

  
  
Maybe it’s because he hasn’t seen the sun in week; or maybe it’s because his lengthy report that took days to draw up went entirely unnoticed, but Roxas can only listen to the sound of typing for so long. He breaks mid-sentence and slams his hands down onto the desk: “I can’t stand Riku! He’s the worst.”  
  
Axel hums from his own workspace a few chairs down, just enough to acknowledge that Roxas said something but not enough to add anything. And certainly not enough to diffuse him.  
  
“He’s such a self-important ass,” Roxas mutters. “I could walk right up and snap the only wrist he has left. _That’d_ get his attention.”  
  
“Now, now…” Axel chides. He still doesn’t look up from his screen, fingers flying at a mile a minute over the keys. His coffee cup is totally empty, but Roxas swears the man never stops typing long enough to drink any of it. “You know how it is. He spends so much time cooped up in that lab that he doesn’t know how to function anymore.”  
  
“The only one he ever speaks to is Sora!”  
  
Finally, Axel sends him a look from over the rim of his reading glasses. “The only one he can _see_ is Sora. Sora’s the only one who’s always on the same level as him.”  
  
Roxas clicks his tongue. How convenient. But that doesn’t matter. They’re all here to research the subnet, right? The _least_ Riku could do is come down off of his high-horse, down from whatever dimensional layer he’s perched himself on, and acknowledge that other people exist with him in the lab. People like and Roxas and Axel, who are constantly working their asses off running simulations and gathering data. People other than bubbly, brilliant Sora; or Riku’s weird cat who can break time and space at will. (Or so he says.) He even named the thing _Vanitas_ after how he ‘appears out of nothingness.’ Honestly, Roxas thinks it’s just a regular cat with a bad attitude. How fitting for a companion of Riku’s. "Even the _cat_ exists."  
  
Axel sighs and leans back in his chair. He slips off the glasses to rub at his straining eyes. “Listen, buddy… I know you want him to notice you, but think about what that would mean. He’s only interested in possibilities. You could end up in one of his experiments.”  
  
Roxas bites his lip. That’s as good as a death sentence, since none of the expedition crews have returned yet. As far as he knows, no one that’s ever been sent to the Edge has come back. Or the Loop, for that matter. They maintain communication, but they’re still out there. Researching. Surviving. “I don’t want him to notice me _—_ just _acknowledge_ that I exist. Even if he told me to get lost, at least that’d be something.”  
  
“If you say so,” Axel shrugs. “But for me? I’m fine being ignored. Fewer people ask you to do stuff. Especially one-armed mad scientists who can slip through dimensional portals.”  
  
“He’s nothing but a sociopath. I wouldn’t be surprised if he abandoned all of us here one day.”  
  
Axel chuckles. “Ever the optimist, Roxas.”   
  
  
.  
  
  
  
“I found my grave the other day,” Riku says like they’re discussing the weather.  
  
Sora laughs with his head still inside some complicated machine, a jungle of wires and buttons and swooping metal bars. “I guess it was only a matter of time… for a time traveler.”  
  
“It was right next to yours.”  
  
Sora carefully removes himself from the machine. There’s a smear of grease on his cheek and a little smile on his lips. “Oh, yeah?”  
  
“They were all built up… like monuments.”  
  
“That was nice of them.”  
  
“And they were completely buried,” Riku sighs. His worst fear: realized.  
  
“Figures,” Sora chuckles, and twirls a wrench in his fingers. “ _Sub_ -net ‘n all.”  
  
Riku vaguely gestures with his good arm. “Parts of the Core are starting to show damage. It looks like everything will be submerged soon enough.”  
  
“That’s because _you_ keep breaking it apart!” Sora shakes the wrench at him. “You’re jumping around from place to place, but the portals are unstable. There’s still too much we don’t know!”  
  
“But how are we supposed to know what’s out there—what’s _possible—_ if we don’t experiment?”  
  
“We have to make sure we’re not _breaking things open_ just to see what’s inside!” Sora pushes. “If you’re not careful… I don’t know what could happen.”  
  
Riku hears the real concern in Sora’s voice. His fists clench atop his desk, one physical and the other an invisible mess of energy. This missing left arm is spread across all seven layers of reality, and if he can converge them all together to a single point, he can travel through. But reality has a habit of shattering like glass behind him. Who knew such integral structures could be so fragile…  
  
“Riku! Helloo~” Sora waves a hand in his face. All of Sora is physical and on a single layer, yet he always manages to stay right where Riku can see him. The others in the lab tend to blink out of existence, but Sora… He’s always right here. “Are you listening to me?”  
  
“Always,” Riku grins.  
  
And Sora rolls his eyes. “You’re such a bad liar. We have to do this the _right_ way. Do you remember the coordinates for the Lighthouse?”  
  
“5-5-0 for the dungeon.”  
  
“Got it!” he chimes, and goes back to the transporter. It is a transporter, now that Riku gives it a proper look. It’s all bronze housing with two large metal arms arching out of the base, and topped with output spheres. Riku hasn’t been paying enough attention to know what sort of maintenance Sora is doing. His head is stuck through where he’s removed the main panel, revealing the wiring inside. Sora softly hums to himself as he tinkers away.   
  
Riku goes back to the papers on his desk. There’s piles of diagrams and notes and scribbled thought experiments. Images of machinery and the old Lighthouse… New ways to harness power and break new barriers.  
  
_Break_ , huh. Sora wouldn’t like that phrasing.  
  
But that doesn’t mean it isn’t exciting. “I think we could use the power of the Lighthouse to leave the Core,” he mumbles, and Sora goes silent. “We’d need a tremendous amount of power for a jump like that… a portal that large… It would be like leaving the planet’s gravity.”  
  
Sora suddenly sets his tools on Riku’s desk with a clatter. He’s standing right there, and practically looming. Riku didn’t even notice him stand up. “You can’t do that, Riku. We don’t know what will happen.”  
  
“But we _know_ there’s more out there, Sora.”  
  
“You said it yourself: the Core is breaking apart. Just using your portals to move around the inside is causing damage.”  
  
“It’s inconsequential.”  
  
Sora puts a firm hand on his shoulder. His eyes are full of doubt, soft lips almost pouting. What is it? What does he not believe in? “And if you leave, you might not come back.”  
  
Riku can’t say anything to that. Well, he _would_ say that it doesn’t matter, but he doesn’t know how Sora would respond to it. If he would be livid or just sad, Riku still doesn’t want to see it. So he doesn’t answer. He lays a diagram across the desk so Sora can see it. It’s his newest sketch for a portal at the Lighthouse. Sora’s expression remains steely. “If I make it out, will you watch Vanitas for me?” A pained sort of look comes over Sora’s face. Riku makes himself ignore it. “God only knows where that damn cat has run off to. I haven’t seen him in days.”  
  
Sora stares at him for a long time. “Well, you know… he’s a free spirit.” He hasn’t even glanced at the sketch yet. There are a million thoughts passing behind his eyes.  
  
“Don’t look at me like that.”  
  
His shoulders droop. “I don’t know how else to look at you right now, Riku. You’re talking crazy.”  
  
He’s heard that line before, but he never in a million years thought he’d hear it from Sora. “So, you think I’m crazy too?” he suddenly bites.  
  
“No, you just have crazy ideas,” Sora sighs. “And you usually know when to let them go.”  
  
“I can’t let this go. This is something I was meant to do.”  
  
His grip loosens on Riku’s shoulder, trailing down his so-called missing arm. Except, Sora can see it. He’s one of the only ones… His fingers wrap tight around a hand that shouldn’t exist. “Just be careful. No reckless stunts. Okay?”  
  
Riku can’t keep that promise, but he makes it anyway. For Sora’s sake.  
  
  
.  
  
  
Sora stands like a statue outside the Lighthouse, fingers passing silently through soft black fur. Vanitas is surprisingly calm in his arms despite all of the loud machinery surrounding them. Sora keeps petting him—just to have something to do with his hands. The anxious knot in his throat is becoming painful. He’s got to keep it together.  
  
Roxas stands next to him. His jaw is clenched tight. “We have to do this, Sora. If we don’t stop him, more people will die.”  
  
“I know,” he murmurs. Vanitas’s eyes stare over the hill to the Lighthouse—to where Sora can’t bear to look. He knows the building is squat and almost entirely boarded up. Even the beacon at the top is sealed shut with huge metal plates. It wouldn’t be a submachine if it wasn’t submerged, after all. It’s about to be even worse.  
  
“You didn’t warn him, right?” Roxas asks.  
  
“I didn’t.”  
  
A nod. Roxas chews on his lip for a long while. “He _knows_ this world is shattering. There’s no way he hasn’t noticed it.”  
  
“Honestly, I don’t think he has,” Sora sighs, much to Roxas’s shock. As Riku gets lost in his work, everything else seems to fizzle away. It’s like he can’t see it. “He’s not heartless, Roxas. He’s just… focused.”  
  
“That’s no excuse and you know it,” he mutters, and storms off.  
  
It’s already too late, anyway. The machines roar to life. Sora can’t breathe as the Lighthouse is buried in sand. He hears the structure groan and windows shatter as they cave in. He holds Vanitas close against his chest. The sand piles up until all that’s visible is the shuttered beacon with its little weather vane. Nothing but sand and windows sealed in metal. Riku’s worst fear is being buried alive. It’s cruel of them do this. There must’ve been a better way. If only Sora could’ve thought of it!  
  
But as long as Riku stays trapped in that section of the subnet, maybe things can start to stitch themselves back together. All of his haphazard portals have left too many fractures. He was too reckless while he was still learning.  
  
Sora should’ve tried harder to stop him. They should’ve had more serious conversations over their midnight coffee breaks. They could’ve worked out a better plan while they were still at the lab. Between the two of them, anything was possible. Isn’t that why they’ll be buried together? Buried again… Sora shudders at the idea. To think that he could be standing upon his own grave and not even know it.  
  
Vanitas starts to struggle against his hold. Sora pats his head. “C’mon, Vani. Let’s get you home.” What layer is Vanitas even from? Looks like Sora will have to do a bit of research to find out.  
  
And despite everything, deep in his heart he’s still _hoping_ Riku will be okay. He’s been buried alive—entombed in the Lighthouse for his crimes and arrogance—and Sora is still aching for it to turn out alright. But all Sora can do now is leave notes behind him while he travels the subnet. Just in case Riku somehow manages to stumble along his old footsteps. Sora can lay everything bare that way.  
  
But it’s not long after the Lighthouse was buried that the world shatters. The entire third layer is rendered uninhabitable after the collapse. Sora’s heart sinks. With so much widespread damage, there’s only one answer. Riku escaped the Lighthouse, and he took the world down with him.   
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This will make a lot more sense if you know anything about the Submachine games, but I tried to make it somewhat coherent to those who don't! I tried, really.
> 
> I have no idea how burying a lighthouse is supposed to work physically, but that's what's in the game. And really, who am I to question that? It's a pretty unique visual, too. 
> 
> Hey, uh... play Submachine.


End file.
